THE USE OF CIRCLE GAMES AS A STRATEGY TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS’ MASTERY IN ENGLISH VOCABULARY (penelitian tindakan kelas ptk/ classroom action research)

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A.Background

The increasing need caused by
developing era is demanded in the global society to enhance their human
resources quality in order to compete to the other countries. In responding
this situation, the role of communication had become a part that could not be
separated from this condition. As English had become very powerful language in the
world, it became one of international languages; most global community used English
as a media of communication with another. Mohammad Reza Talebinezhad &
Mohammad Aliakbari (2007) said that English as an International Language
referred to the use of English by people of different nations in order to
communicate with one another.

As the important of English in
communication, it is not something difficult to see that the language are
frequently used either to formal or informal places such as foreign companies,
embassy office, tourism sector and many other places. Different from Singapore,
Bangkok, Malaysia and India, they put English as their second language as their
language communication while Indonesia put English as its foreign language. It is
used as an instrument of utilizing modern sciences and technology for national
development and it is also used as a mean of communication when Indonesian
wanted to communicate to people from overseas. No doubt that only few
Indonesians mastered of it, most of them tended to ignore it, they used to
think that foreign language not something useful for their daily life and learned
of it.

However, nowadays, the assumption is
gradually scraped off by the developing era that demanded the society to be
more competitive and to be able to enhance their human resources quality.
Therefore, the role of English are needed to face the era of globalization,
where it would be many new things happened in our nation. Since English
recently are treated as foreign and important language for Indonesian, it had a
major portion in Indonesian educational system and became a compulsory subject
to study either in junior or senior high schools in today’s Indonesian
educational system. Ricardo Schutz (2007) said that English in its role as a
global language that it had become one of the most important academic and professional
tools. The English language is recognized as undoubtedly the most important
language for the increasingly mobile international community to learn. This is
a fact that seemed to be irreversible. English had become the official language
of the business and scientific worlds.

The massive trend of learning
English are not without a reason. The development of the country’s economy,
science and technology that tended to be influenced by many English speaking
countries had put people who understood English in more advantageous position,
especially in job finding. Many Indonesian people started to believe that
English would help them so much in finding a job than those who did not.

As the most important foreign
language in Indonesia, English became one of the compulsory subjects taught in
junior high school, senior high school and some semesters at university. The government
always made effort to improve the quality of English teaching. By improving the
teachers’ quality and other components involved in educational process, the
English teaching in Indonesia improved time to time. In line with the
government’s plan to have nine compulsory studies, it is possible to teach
English in the third grade of senior high school. By applying the foreign
language to early level (the third grade of senior high school students), the
students’ language mastery are expected to be satisfactory although it is only
in simple English.

In teaching a language, a teacher
might realize that he could not apply only one or two strategies to all levels.
In reverse, he is required to be able to recognize the characters of his
students and to select an appropriate strategy to them. It is not something
different from teaching English to the third grade of senior high school
students, the teacher is supposed to know that children are so closed with
something fun and enjoyable. So whenever he taught, he had to be selective in
choosing a strategy to introduce a learning material. A good teaching strategy
would automatically facilitate him to get students’ interest in learning
process.

To improve the English educational
system, the government had been seeking to a system which is really in line
with the students’ need. In this case the teaching process could be started
from earliest step, by using simple things without trying to introduce language
components explicitly before they are really ready.

After all of the material of the
pre-level are clearly taught and understood. The language components could be
little by little involved in their study as a continuity of their learning,
such as phonology, spelling, structure and vocabulary.

One of the most important language
components are vocabulary. The mastery of it would be very helpful when one is
learning foreign language a great mastery on it; it would also facilitate him to
comprehend the subject learn in which it is in English. Research concluded that
the quality of one’s language skill depended on the quality and the quantity of
vocabulary mastered, the more he mastered the vocabulary the better he used the
language skill. This study would present a vocabulary teaching strategy to the
third grade of senior high school students. In which it is going to be very
pleasant and interesting for young learners. The teaching strategy are about
“The Use of Game (Circle Games) in Teaching Vocabulary to The third grade of senior
high school Students” conducted within a set of rules in the objectives.

By providing game as a media in
teaching vocabulary to the third grade of senior high school students, Research
hoped that it would make them felt something pleasant and felt it different from
what they used to get in the class. The use of game would stimulate them to be more
active and it is really matched with the students’ world where pre-level students
liked to study through movement. By the activity, they are given an opportunity
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